03/07/09: Memos gave Bush overriding powers
Posted by: BLOWBACK
Great story from LA Times, confirming the warrantless search and wiretapping authority that the Bush administration gave itself.
Tellingly, this authority was then nullified in the final days before the administration left (presumably using whatever dubious process by which it was established to begin with)
The just-released memos also showed that five days before Bush left office, the Justice Department issued a secret but remarkable retraction of some of these same sweeping definitions of presidential authority.
In a Jan. 15 "memorandum for the files," Principal Deputy Assistant Atty. Gen. Steven G. Bradbury said many of the Office of Legal Counsel opinions issued between 2001 and 2003 no longer reflected the views of the Justice Department and "should not be treated as authoritative for any purpose."
Memos gave Bush overriding powers
Tellingly, this authority was then nullified in the final days before the administration left (presumably using whatever dubious process by which it was established to begin with)
The just-released memos also showed that five days before Bush left office, the Justice Department issued a secret but remarkable retraction of some of these same sweeping definitions of presidential authority.
In a Jan. 15 "memorandum for the files," Principal Deputy Assistant Atty. Gen. Steven G. Bradbury said many of the Office of Legal Counsel opinions issued between 2001 and 2003 no longer reflected the views of the Justice Department and "should not be treated as authoritative for any purpose."
Memos gave Bush overriding powers